Oxford United make history by beating Brentford 4-0

12 August 2015

John Verrall

Oxford United made a bit of League Cup history after stunning Brentford in Round 1 of the Capital One Cup.

The Sky Bet League 2 U's demolished Marinus Dijkhuizen’s Sky Bet Championship side, winning 4-0 at Griffin Park - it is the heaviest defeat a side from the fourth tier has ever inflicted on a team in the top two divisions away from home.

4 - Oxford have recorded the biggest away win in League Cup history by a fourth tier side versus a team from the top two tiers (4-0). Smart.

Oxford took the lead in the fifth minute through Liam Sercombe, and they would not relent with Danny Hylton and Kemar Roofe putting them three goals to the good before 15 minutes had been played.

If Brentford had hoped of getting back into the tie, then their dreams were dashed soon after the second half began when John Mullins smashed home a fourth to send the League 2 side into Round 2.

The win had manager Michael Appleton purring with praise for his record-setting charges.

“They didn’t look like scoring and that’s the biggest credit I can give to the players,” he said to Yellow Player. “I said to them at half-time that it was 0-0, and challenged them to win the second half.

“To go a goal up in the second half, as we did, we could take a bit of sting out of the game and I’m absolutely delighted for them.”

Brentford boss Dijkhuizen, meanwhile, was understandably less impressed by his side’s performance.

“It was awful,” he admitted to brentfordfc.co.uk. “An embarrassing performance from my team. After 12 minutes it’s game over. I think there was no organisation; no leadership in the team.

“They started well with a lot of energy and every shot on the goal [went in] and after 12 minutes it’s a very difficult game from then on.”